The campaigns offer dueling visions of "what constitutes change," according to Jesse Rhodes, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and co-director of the UMass Poll.
"There's the symbolism around age and a shift to a new generation, and that is, for Moulton and his supporters, the key dimension of change that they envision," Rhodes added.
"But I think Markey and his supporters have countered with the argument that what really is needed is a vigorous progressive Democratic Party," he continued.
Markey maintains the edge in polling ahead of Tuesday’s primary, but momentum has nevertheless built around Moulton in what’s one of this primary season’s last major tests of Democratic appetite for younger Senate hopefuls.
Moulton has made the generational conversation a key part of his campaign since launching his challenge last year — in a cycle marked by the passing of multiple Capitol Hill Democrats in office, renewed talk of age and term limits, as well as the fallout from former President Biden’s decision to end his 2024 campaign amid age and health concerns.
“I’m running against the senator’s decision after 50 years in Washington, to run for another term at age 80,” the congressman said in a final debate last week, where he voiced support for age limits in Congress. “I believe in a new generation of leadership. I believe we can do better than the status quo.”
The Boston Globe endorsed Moulton over Markey last week, suggesting that the younger candidate "can bring new vision and vigor to an aging, ailing, and deeply unpopular Democratic Party.”
Markey, though, argued at the recent debate that it's Moulton who has had "a hard time keeping up" with the incumbent on the campaign trail, pledging that he's "more energized than ever before."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) backed Markey last week, lauding the incumbent's record.
The primary is one of several this cycle in which younger challengers have taken aim at longtime lawmakers. But in many of the races, the challengers were also running clearly to the left of the incumbents.
Democratic Reps. Diana DeGette (Colo.), Shri Thanedar (Mich.) and Adriano Espaillat (N.Y.) — aged 69, 71 and 71, respectively — all lost to younger challengers backed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Colorado’s Melat Kiros, Michigan’s Donavan McKinney and New York’s Darializa Avila Chevalier are 29, 34 and 32, respectively.
In the Massachusetts race, it's the longtime incumbent who's rallied progressive support, while his challenger is seen as more moderate.
“The Markey-Moulton primary is a little bit of an outlier, because the positions are kind of reversed in interesting ways: that the challenger Moulton is younger, but he's also more moderate,” said Rhodes.
But Jennifer Holdsworth, a former Moulton adviser and Democratic strategist, pushed back against the popular framing of the race, calling it “unfortunate tribalism” and arguing that Moulton has called for a number of “very progressive” platforms.
“It's not easy to place him in an ideological clan of the party, and I think that's actually what voters are looking for moving forward. They're tired of the left, right, center debate. Voters themselves don't see themselves that way,” Holdsworth said of Moulton.
“It really is a question about whether someone in their 80s is simply too old to weigh in on the biggest policy debates of our time,” she added, pointing to the rivals’ debate stage clash over AI last week.
With just days to go before the Markey-Moulton showdown, UMass polling last week found the incumbent was backed by more than 4 in 5 likely Democratic primary voters, signaling that Markey’s age “may actually be advantageous” to the incumbent as voters labeled him progressive, experienced and trustworthy.
“In general, we just need to be attentive to, I think, two interrelated but distinct battles in the Democratic Party. One is about incumbency and ossification and just getting too cozy in office, but the other is about the kind of ideological soul of the Democratic Party and where it's going to go,” Rhodes said.
He pointed to Sanders, who at 84 is the second-oldest senator, behind only 92-year-old Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). He’s served in the Senate for 20 years and will finish his current term in 2031, at age 89 — but as one of the leading progressives on Capitol Hill, he hasn’t faced significant calls to step aside.
“Is Bernie an example of the past that needs to go, or is he a forerunner of the future where the Democratic Party is going to be leaning in as we go forward?” Rhodes said.
Another unique contour in the race is that, while Markey has served in Washington for 50 years, Moulton has already put in a decade in the House.
“While undoubtedly experience matters, the question is: what kind of experience?” Holdsworth said.
Regardless, Markey remains in a strong position to retain his Senate seat for another six-year term. He faced a strong challenge from former Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) in 2020 but defeated his rival by roughly 10 percentage points in the primary, marking the first time a Kennedy family member lost a statewide race in Massachusetts.
The marquee Senate race is not the only race in the Bay State with age on the ballot. Thirty-nine-year-old lawyer Patrick Roath, backed by David Hogg’s Leaders We Deserve, is challenging 71-year-old Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) in the Democratic primary for Massachussett’s safely blue 8th Congressional District.
Roath has centered the race around change, while hammering Lynch over past votes against former President Obama's signature healthcare policy in 2010 and in support of the Laken Riley Act last year.
Democrats see the Lynch-Roath primary as more emblematic of the broader themes bedeviling the party of age and generational change.
“That race is a wild card race,” one Massachusetts Democratic strategist supporting Markey in the Senate primary told The Hill regarding Lynch’s reelection.
“Roath is challenging Stephen from the left,” the strategist said, adding that “Moulton is really challenging Markey from the right.”
Roath told The Hill in a statement that Democrats “are looking for outsider candidates challenging the status quo.”
Lynch, however, has touted his experience, the amount of money he’s directed toward his district and pointed to legislation like the DREAM Act that he’s supported while in office.
“And remember, I accomplished much of that as a member of the minority party in Congress,” Lynch said during opening statements at a candidate forum this month. “You can only imagine what we can do together if the situation changes.”
A second Massachusetts Democratic strategist who has previously worked for Moulton, but is not involved in either the Senate or House race, suggested Roath could have a shot at ousting Lynch.
“I think the looming question for Moulton and Roath is have they deemed themselves acceptable alternatives to the incumbent?” the second strategist added. “And that's a challenge in any primary.”
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